Craig Brazell and Jason Standridge know each other very well. They're good friends, former teammates and their children even get along well.
They also both hail from the state of Alabama, from hometowns about an hour or so apart. They haven't faced each other too many times in Japan, but after their latest meeting, any friendly bragging rights are firmly in Brazell's corner.
Brazell homered off Standridge in the top of the ninth inning to help give the Chiba Lotte Marines a 1-0 win over the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in what had been a pitcher's duel between Standridge and Lotte right-hander Yuki Karakawa on Tuesday at Tokyo Dome. The Hawks were serving as the home team in the contest, despite being a long way away from Fukuoka.